Christina to Establish First Public-Montessori Program in Delaware

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

Last night, late in the evening, at our regularly scheduled board meeting, the Christina Board of Education voted 7-0 to establish Delaware's FIRST Public-Montessori program! Chrsitina now heads into a year of planning and preparation that culminate with Montessori classrooms in both the urban portion of our district and the suburban.

The Montessori model comes with substantial historical data validating it's methodologies which include smaller class sizes. For those in Christina who have lobbied for true education reform that directly affects the classroom, we will now embark on a three year pilot during which time we can collect and validate our own Christina-generated data!

Our Montessori model will bring new choice options to Christina students while positioning the district to offer even greater diversification in learning environments. This partnership is a win for Christina's children! I couldn't be prouder than I am today that our Board has taken the steps to invest in proven best-practices in a reknowned model.

Maria Montessori

(1870-1952), Italian educator and doctor, born in Chiaravalle, and educated at the University of Rome. She is best known for the Montessori method of teaching young children, introduced to Rome in 1907. Her method, which has since spread throughout the world, stresses the development of initiative and self-reliance by permitting children to do by themselves the things that interest them, but within strictly disciplined limits. A wide variety of special equipment of increasing complexity is used to help direct the interests of the child and hasten development.
When a child is ready to learn new and more difficult tasks, the teacher guides the child's first endeavours in order to avoid wasted effort and the learning of wrong habits; otherwise the child learns alone. It has been reported that the Montessori method has enabled children to learn to read and write much more quickly and with greater facility than has otherwise been possible. Her writings include The Montessori Method (1912) and Advanced Montessori Method (1917).There is no better investment in education than investing in our classrooms and our students. Warm Gratitidue is due to the Elementary Workshop in Wilmington for engaging Christina in several months of collaboration. Today, it's Children First!